The present invention relates an auxiliary or dependent apparatus which processes (e.g., displays or prints) music content, such as musical score data, in cooperation with an external electronic audio apparatus (hereinafter, such an auxiliary or dependent apparatus will be referred to as “electronic-audio-apparatus cooperating apparatus”), and more particularly to a technique for automatically changing or updating, to a usable state, music content or program, stored in the auxiliary or dependent apparatus by downloading or otherwise, in cooperation with the external electronic audio apparatus.
Heretofore, there have been known apparatus using music content, such as musical score data. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2003-271766, for example, discloses that a user can download electronic music information (content) including electronic musical score data from a content selling site, and that, of such downloaded content, the user can use only content having embedded therein a same licensed equipment ID as an equipment ID of a music-content utilizing apparatus possessed by the user. Namely, according to the technique disclosed in the No. 2003-271766 publication, a list of the content downloaded into a storage medium of the music-content utilizing apparatus possessed by the user, and once the user selects, from among the displayed content, content which the user wants to use, a determination is made as to whether any one of the licensed equipment IDs embedded in the selected content matches the equipment ID of the music-content utilizing apparatus possessed by the user is displayed. If any one of the licensed equipment IDs embedded in the selected content matches the equipment ID of the music-content utilizing apparatus possessed by the user, then the selected content is read out from the storage medium so that it can be used. If, on the other hand, none of the licensed equipment IDs embedded in the selected content match the equipment ID of the music-content utilizing apparatus possessed by the user, a message to the effect that the selected content is not usable, without the selected content being read out from the storage medium.
With the technique disclosed in patent literature 1, even content that cannot be licensed to the user is displayed on the list at the time of content selection so that the user is allowed to select even content that is not usable, as a result of which the user would perform a wasteful selection operation. Further, a licensed equipment ID has to be embedded in advance in each content provided by the content selling site. Besides, when the equipment ID of the music-content utilizing apparatus possessed by the user has changed, for example, due to replacement of the music-content utilizing apparatus with a new one, content that was usable before the replacement cannot be used any longer, and thus, extra operations and costs would be required for downloading content again from the content selling site.
Further, it has also been known to use the music-content utilizing apparatus of the aforementioned type with functions extended by installing an additional function in the apparatus. Further, Japanese Patent No. 3,614,061, for example, discloses an automatic performance apparatus whose functions can be readily extended by various plug-in programs being installed from a storage medium through user's operations. Furthermore, in a music piece data reproduction apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4,029,735, a music piece data set comprising reproducing performance data and purchase information and having reproduction limitation event data included in the performance data is acquirable from a server. When the music piece data set is reproduced on the reproduction apparatus, and if the purchase information is “test-listening version”, the reproduction functions (such as a musical score display function) can be limited by the reproduction limitation event data being read out from the performance data.
Furthermore, in an information processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2004-213177, execution of a plurality of partial programs (such as plug-in modules), providing different functions, is managed by a management program, each of a plurality of musical instruments, which become objects of selection in execution of the management program, and one or more partial programs of the plurality of partial programs are associated with each other by a configuration file, and one or more partial programs corresponding to a user-selected musical instrument can be identified and executed on the basis of the configuration file through execution of the management program.
However, in order to effect functional extension, the user has to perform some kinds of operation, such as a selection operation and setting operation. Further, in the case where content has limitation information, it is necessary to remove the limitation, for example, by performing a content purchase procedure.